The Lost Aria (Earth Song Book 3) Page 41

  Without thinking about it, she reached out and started twisting and flipping icons. In a moment she unlocked all but the final key. The icons disappeared and the little screen came to life. On it was the outline of a hand, a three fingered hand. Minu held up her mostly ruined bionic hand, a nearly perfect match for the outline.

  “Well that's interesting,” Bjorn said. Minu looked and saw Ted and Bjorn standing behind her, watching intently.

  “We bought those bionic limbs from a trader,” Ted said, “they were keyed close enough to our genetic codex to use.”

  “I met the ones who found them, the Squeen.” Minu looked at the hand again, so alien and yet a part of her for years now. “They said this was where I'd find the answers.” With the help of her left hand, she formed the dead hand to match the outline and pushed it onto the pad. Nothing happened, so she tried the left hand. She saw the outline form into a match for her hand then felt a little sting. She flinched slightly.

  “What happened?” Ted asked.

  “It poked me! Just a little bit, like one of those diabetes testers they started making a few years ago.”

  “Bio sample.”

  “Why?”

  With a buzz the panel retreated into the wall. Minu pulled her hand back and took a step clear as the doors began to pivot away into the walls. “That's why. The species that supplied your arm, matched our codex they controlled this station.”

  “A very old Concordia species,” Bjorn agreed, “and a hominid like us.”

  “Woof,” Aaron said.

  Inside was a station where multiple open top trams waited, each easily big enough to hold fifty beings. The group picked the first one and piled in, Cherise and Aaron carefully loading Pip into a seat then sitting on either side to keep the pod from slipping out. Minu took the foremost seat and looked for controls. The only problem was, there weren't any. “Well, now what?” she asked aloud.

  “Destination?” spoke a voice from the tram in the same German/Chimp language.

  “Good question,” Minu said and turned to look at Ted and Bjorn. “Ideas?”

  “Well, we need to locate a computer storage network,” Ted said, “that's our best bet.” Bjorn nodded.

  “Take us to a central computer storage,” Minu said.

  “No such destination exists,” the computer replied. “This base is in forward deployment mode, ancillary facilities are limited. Destination?”

  “That wasn't helpful,” she said and tried to think. “A medical facility should have the codex, right?”

  “Medical facilities are not attached to this base,” the tram replied.

  “What about a ship? Are there hospital ships?”

  “No such ships are docked at this base.”

  “Okay, damn it; do any of the ships have medical facilities?”

  “Forty two ships docked to this forward base have at least nominal medical facilities.”

  “There we go!”

  “Excellent,” Bjorn said encouragingly.

  “Take us to the nearest ship with medical facilities.”

  “The nearest ship equipped in such a way is in hibernation and not accessible.”

  “Back to square one,” she grumbled. “Are any of the ships with medical facilities accessible?”

  “Negative.”

  “Are any ships on this base at all accessible?”

  “Negative.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “Restate query.”

  “Never mind,” she said and threw up her hands in exasperation. Then an idea occurred to her. “Why are all the ships in, what did you call it, hibernation?”

  “Lacking crews and deployment orders, the fleet remained on standby until power reached critical levels. At that point all vessels went into hibernation mode, as dictated by protocols, and remaining power reserves were transferred to the station.”

  “Are there still any energy reserves?”

  “This station maintains minimal stores pending deployment orders.”

  “Enough to bring a ship out of hibernation?”

  “Sufficient power remains to activate one Kaatan class ship.”

  Minu looked at the two men who both shrugged. “Does the Kaatan class ship have medical facilities?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Activate one of those ships, and take us there.”

  “Power drains are at critical levels. Instability will increase by nine to the eighth order as result of activating the Kaatan class ship.”

  “So what?”

  “Forward base instability is a factor. Protocol requires informed verification to proceed.”

  “Uhm, the order is verified?”

  “Noted. Kaatan class ship Lambda Two is being activated. Please prepare for motion.”

  And with that the car came to life, maneuvering down the tramway and around a number of other waiting trams, then out into one of the myriad of tubes leading out from the main station.

  “What the hell was that last about?” she asked anyone who cared to venture a theory.

  “I think you were pushing it,” Aaron suggested.

  “Sounds reasonable,” Ted agreed. “The computer is programmed to be conservative.”

  Bjorn nodded his head. “Protect the station, and the ships.”

  “I hope that codex is there,” Cherise said, looking up from her examination of the pod's controls, “Pip doesn't have much more time.”

  “It'll be there,” Minu said with as much confidence as she could muster. In her head she was making plans quickly. Get to this ship, get Pip into the medical system and let it do its magic. Then fly the ship over and punch their way into the Portal station, disable the ship so the snakes couldn't use it, and head home! Right, just that easy. “Computer, can you lock the promenade again?”

  “Affirmative. Does the operator request full lock down?”

  “Yes, but open to myself and those with me.”

  “Understood. Remote bio-scans logged, all tram occupants retain station access.”

  “There is a vehicle in antechamber Victor Three, is it possible to have it loaded on to the ship we’re going to?”

  “Request is being accomplished.”

  “I think I'm getting the hang of this!” Minu chuckled then groaned. The Boost was starting to wear off and she was coming to grips with just how beat she was.

  “Approaching Kaatan – Lambda Two.” And the tram began to slow. Outside through the transparent tube, they could see they were approaching one of the ships they'd seen that looked like one ball pieced by a single lance.

  “Damn, I was hoping for the big ones,” Bjorn said.

  “You're going to get to board an ancient Concordia starship and you're disappointed?” Ted asked his old friend.

  “You have a point!” he brightened up and took out a tablet. Minu wished he'd be a little more serious some times, then chuckled to herself as she remembered who she was thinking about.

  The tram came to a gentle stop at a simple junction of three tubes, the Kaatan class ship stretching out to either side of them for hundreds of meters. “I had no idea it was that big,” Minu whispered.

  “Half a kilometer long,” Aaron noted, his practiced eye making the estimate easily. As the tram stopped, the stations doors swung open showing a short tube leading to the side of the waiting starship. At the other end an airlock into the ship was already swinging inward.

  “Kaatan – Lambda Two is completing power up and standing by.”

  “Time to go,” Minu said and walked towards the tunnel.

  Chapter 12

  January 14th, 522 AE

  Kaatan Class Cruiser, Firebase Enigma, Galactic Frontier

  Where the station was pleasantly cool, the ship was like a meat locker. Minu wasn't the only one reaching into her pocket to activate her jumpsuit’s built-in heating/cooling mesh. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work. The temperature control device shared the same wires as the faraday mesh, and it was toast from the near fatal beamcaster
hit she'd taken earlier. “Crap,” she swore as she flicked the switch several times in the vain hope it would still work. She was reduced to digging in her kit for the relatively light jacket stashed there.

  “That going to be enough?” Aaron asked as she fought strong shivers while donning the jacket.

  “It should be,” she said, “I'm sure the heaters are still cycling up.”

  Where the air was frigid, the floors and walls were dangerously cold. Cherise almost had a hand freeze to a wall as they entered the ship, only just jerking it away with a yelp of pain. A little blood trickled from her hand and a tiny piece of skin stayed stuck to the wall where it had instantly frozen. “Important note, don't touch the walls,” she said as she sucked on the wound. Aaron helpfully provided a little dermal patch for her, sealing the wound. Everyone was shivering now. The floors were so cold their feet were quickly going numb.

  The interior of the ship was much like the shuttle, only on a larger scale. The hallways were circular with a flattened bottom, and felt slightly shorter than comfortable for the men, especially Ted, the tallest among them. Minu, Aaron and the Rasa really didn't notice.

  From the airlock they came to an intersection, the tunnel continued onward where Minu could see another airlock some fifty meters away, and to their left and right. Where the shuttle only had one exit from the main fore-aft passageway, this ship had dozens. Light rings were spaced every meter, but only every third ring was lit giving the ship a dark, claustrophobic feeling. “So where the hell is the medical section?” she wondered aloud.

  “Medical is on deck nine,” chattered a now ubiquitous simian voice.

  “Where is that?”

  In the center of the floor, a green line appeared and quickly raced away, followed by another, and another, every two seconds. “Follow the prompt to the medical section,” offered the computer’s voice.

  “Very helpful,” Cherise noted, rubbing the dressing in place on her palm to control the bleeding. “Can you do something about the heat?”

  “This system is not enabled to affect ship systems.

  “Well that's comforting,” Minu said. “Var'at, take your team and look around. Keep in radio contact.”

  “Yes, boss,” he said and hung his mouth open in amusement.

  “Try not to shoot any holes in this tub; it might be our only way back to the Portal station.”

  The Rasa all skittered off with Var'at in the lead, eager to get moving to generate some body heat. While it was cold to the humans, it wasn't far from hell for the reptilians. Minu watched them until they turned a corner, then nodded to her people. With Cherise and Aaron continuing to shepherd Pip's precious pod, they moved along with the flashing green line that disappeared behind them once they walked on past.

  Down a corridor they turned to find a pair of jump tubes, one up, one down. Minu was the first to step in and was surprised to find herself just floating there, not going up as she expected in a normal jump tube. The wall of the tube was covered in a material that felt like carpet, and when she reached out to touch it the gentlest of movements propelled her upward a centimeter. Encouraged she grabbed a handful of the material and pulled, sending herself speeding up the tube. Monkeys, came the word in the back of her mind, they like to climb! “Come on, it’s easy!” she yelled back down.

  There was some concern about Pip's pod, but it was an unnecessary worry. The hidden hoverfields took hold of the pod and carefully moved it along with its custodians without any need to control its ascent. The flashing green line directed her to exit on a level where she found the green line now leading off to her left. The others came out behind her with Pip, so Minu continued along the line.

  As she walked Minu noticed her shivering decrease. It was getting warmer finally, so she unzipped her jacket just as the light stopped at a door. “I think we're here,” she told the others.

  “Hey!” Cherise yelped as the life support pod suddenly starting moving on its own. Before she or Aaron could grab it the pod moved forward and turned towards the wall. A second before it would collide with the pristine white surface a hole almost identical in proportions to the pod slid open and admitted it, then instantly closed behind. The group quickly moved through the main door which opened to admit them in a similar, timely manner.

  Inside they found themselves in a waiting room, a dozen meters wide and half that deep, a wide sweeping transparent wall faced them, and along the bulkhead on either side of the door were a series of benches, all with holes right where their tail bones would rest.

  A transparent tube moved from the pod entrance along one side of the waiting room and Pip's pod was just exiting the far side. The rest of the chamber was a long bay of the almost ever-present white walls and curving light beams. There wasn't an instrument or bed in sight. Minu felt a moment of panic that the ancient ship’s medical bay had been looted by the T'Chillen or some other species thousands of years ago, or never stocked with equipment. But as the pod slid to a stop not far away against the left wall, a bed formed out of the floor under the pod and bore it delicately up a meter high. The bed was shaped to form to the pod, as if it were the patient. A trio of screens emerged from slots in the wall and arrayed themselves around the pod as a pair of medical scanning wands popped from the bed on either side and began to sweep methodically back and forth along the pods length. After a moment a voice started chattering.

  “There is no medical officer assigned to this ship.”

  “We know that,” Minu said.

  “This is the Medical Intelligence, an evaluation of the patient is being performed, stand by.”

  “What kind of computer is running this ship?”

  “There is no main computer intelligence installed. This program is the steward protocol.”

  “Steward?” wondered Minu.

  “You know,” said Bjorn, “the guy who shows you to your room on a cruise?”

  So this program just escorts the crew on board and tells them where to go, Minu thought. That isn't good.

  “Please designate a commanding officer.”

  “I guess that’s me, Minu Alma.”

  “Set, Minu Alma is now commanding Kaatan Class ship Lambda Two.”

  Ted poked her with an elbow and she turned to look. The pod had split in two and Pip was revealed as robot arms removed the two halves of the device that had kept him alive the last few weeks. She was aghast at how emaciated he looked. The computer controlled sensors evaluated the various hoses and leaders coming from Pip’s body, one spending a few long moments sweeping back and forth over the left side of his head, where the hair had never grown back over pink scar tissue.

  “Sub-tech life support measures are obstructing diagnostic evaluation, they will be removed,” chattered the medical intelligence. By the time their translators had done their job, arms were quickly removing tubes and sensors from his body, and just as quickly replacing them with others that popped up from the bed. Minu marveled at the bed which seemed to be a self-contained surgical bay of incredible sophistication. On the monitor screens Pip's vital signs didn't even give a blip, and neither did any of them see a drop of blood as the IVs were removed.

  That done, the Medical Intelligence went back to scanning his body. Slowly the screens were filled with detailed representations of their friend including cutaways of his brain. Another screen emerged and also filled with many more images of his brain. Even Minu, with her limited medical knowledge could see the damage highlighted in off colors.

  “Evaluation is complete,” came the voice. “Patient is of genetic divergent stock reference Nine-Two-Nine, with expected genetic drift for time interval. All bio indicators are within expected norms for a prime hominid. Commander Minu Alma, do you wish to designate this species?”

  “Uh, human?”

  “Noted, species classified as human. Patient shows evidence of two serious traumas. One minor injury to the left ankle has been repaired and healed within ninety percent of normal. One major trauma to the brain, substa
ntially unrepaired. Damage to the neocortex remains. Biological deviation is extensive enough to create ambiguities in treatment. A scan of a healthy human is necessary.”

  “I'll do it,” Aaron said right away.

  “No, it's all on me,” Minu said and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “You are hardly 'healthy',” Aaron gestured at her hand and the dozens of small burns on her torso.

  “I'll have you know my brain is just fine, which is the important part for comparison to Pip. Regardless, I'm in charge, it's my call. Use me for the scans,” Minu told the Medical Intelligence. A chair formed out of the floor right in front of her making everyone jump backwards.

  “Damn I hate that,” Cherise spat, stomping the floor at her own skittishness. Bjorn was leaning over and carefully examining the seat. Minu came around it and with no small amount of trepidation, sat down. Much to Bjorn's chagrin the chair instantly moved forward, the waiting room wall parting to allow her through before closing behind her. As she passed through Minu felt a slight electric tingle run from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. It was over as quickly as it started and in seconds the chair stopped next to Pip, turned her around, formed into a bed and rose up while reclining her back. For a moment she felt a hole under her bottom, disconcertingly like a badly placed toilet seat, but a second later it closed up.

  “Computer,” Minu asked, “do you have within your memory a complete codex for our species?” she held her breath as she waited for the answer.

  “Affirmative,” came the reply. Even through the wall Minu could hear the cheers of her friends. “Biological deviations for your sub-species are within expected norms.”

  “Was this ship built by a species like mine?”

  There was an unusually long pause this time. “That information is not within my programmed parameters.” Minu decided it really didn't matter, and tried to relax as the medical intelligence went to work.

  Just as with Pip, scanning wands popped out and began to sweep her from head to toe, paying particular attention to her skull, then her abdomen. Minu had to suppress the urge to cover her tummy or shoo the inquisitive apparatus away. After a minute of scanning, her own set of screens appeared. Minu craned her neck to get a look at the information.